Breakfast Haiku

enriched hominy
cheesy creamy Quaker grits
20 miles undone

End Training Week 4

Okay, so I totally lied last week when I said I was ready for the marathon now. This wasn't a horrible week by any means but it definitely showed me that I am not quite marathon ready. Hopefully the taper will take care of that. As of tomorrow I've got 3 weeks. I've done my homework; so come race day, I hope, this should be evident.

Sunday: Rest day

Monday: 8 miles. I forgot to charge Garmin but I am guessing somewhere around an 8:30ish pace.

Tuesday: 4 miles in 29 minutes and 9 seconds on the treadmill. 35 minutes of full body weights.

Wednesday: 10 miles but Garmin's GPS was taking a nap for most of the run so I didn't get a pace. Time was a little over an hour twenty.

Thursday: Okay, so my plan was to try and do 18-20 but again GPS was taking a nap. I really needed it during this run since I had to pick up Beau and it was a new route. So little over 7 miles in I turned back. It ended up being somewhere around 14 miles in just over 2 hours.

Friday: Again with the treadmill. And again almost identical run: 29 minutes and 14 seconds. So slower. I started to do some upper body work but realized I didn't have time since Carmella had early release from school. So I only did about 10 minutes of arms and shoulders.

Saturday: 20 miles in 3 hours. This was much harder than I thought it would be. I started out on my regular route and planned to incorporate some new roads. I did not like the first new road. It was very hilly, much hillier than it seemed in the car when I drove it the other day. (If you haven't figured it out yet I do not love the hills.)
At the 10 mile point my feet hurt and I had stomach cramps. So I decided to cut it short and not try out the other new roads. Even still heading back at that point in my route would have made the run somewhere around 15-16 miles.
While I was cursing myself for giving up I realized I was feeling a little better and that my feet weren't bothering me so much anymore. I decided to loop back and add on a few extra miles so I could get to 20.
I basically spent the morning running in circles.
I hate that.
I absolutely hate running on the same road more than once. I like planned routes that have long loops. For some reason this makes me feel like I have a purpose. And I like, even better, point to point routes. I like these because I pretend that I am delivering an important message. Really, don't even bother asking me, there is no message. It is just the idea of the message. I guess I like to make myself all important and pretend that I am a modern day Phidippidies and I have a purpose. A method to my madness.
It is totally gay, I know.
Anyway, today though there was definitely no important message and I was certainly not Phidippidies: I ran through/past the same 4-way stop 3 times. I just felt silly out there--like I was lost and just kept missing the turn I needed. I had no purpose.

Oh yeah, and this morning, weirdness when I started out: I swear I saw at least 6 different police cars in the span of 2 miles along this one road on my route. One of them actually crept along side me. The officer driving had his window down and it kind of freaked me out since he seemed to be looking directly at me. So I asked him if we were racing. He and his partner chuckled a little and said yes. I told them they were sure to win and then kept running. They crept along with me for another minute and then finally drove on. Then they passed me 2 more times on that same road--both times they were laughing at me. I started to get a little paranoid and worried that maybe I had a pair of Carmella's tights stuck on my shirt like did once before because I failed to thoroughly check myself for static cling before heading out. I stopped a bit later for a pit stop and inspected myself in the mirror. I couldn't find anything laughable--I mean out of the ordinary for me-- so maybe they weren't laughing at me after all. Who knows. I didn't see any police cars the rest of my run so I don't what was up with that. It was weird.

At any rate, while it wasn't the greatest training run ever it was okay. And that is fine. It doesn't have to be great; it is a training run. But the best news is that I am officially done with the monster long runs for this training cycle. I have the Silver Comet half marathon next Saturday and then I will be in taper madness. I am not exactly sure what my plan is for the next few weeks but I will definitely start cutting back on the mileage. I will probably try to keep the intensity up until the week before the marathon. I am also thinking a few yoga classes might be in order. I am feeling about as flexible as the Tin Man these days.

Total miles: 60

Fall is here

For me this was the first official weekend of fall.We went to the pumpkin patch.
We hunted and hunted and looked each pumpkin over.
Inspecting each and judging each for best stem, color, and carving potential.
And we finally we found our pumpkin.

Okay, so we didn't actually end up buying the deformed pumpkin.
But we did feel sorry for the Charlie Brown pumpkin and totally saw HUGE carving potential in him. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown had some soft spots that indicated early rotting so we passed on him for a more aesthetically pleasing and traditionally shaped pumpkin.
Boring and vain are we.
But yep; fall is here.
The weather was cool enough for a jacket and boots.
Fall fashion--hip hip hooray!
Sure, I know, it won't stay--next week is bound to be in the 80's but there is color in the trees and some leaves have even fallen and there has been crisp air--I breathed it. I ran in it on Saturday and barely broke a sweat. I wore long sleeves on Friday and wasn't hot.
We even had our heat on this morning.
So fall is here.
Yesterday we celebrated baby Pat's first birthday.


I think everyone had a better time at baby Pat's birthday than baby Pat but that is how first birthdays go. . .
--First birthdays, they aren't for the kid but for the parents, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts, friends. . . . First birthdays are a celebration of having offspring survive a year. So congrats to Meme and Pat! Great job on making it through the first year!

The kids had a blast with the informal games-- of Tackle, I mean football.

And the more formal games, like the painting of the pumpkins;

And then the made up games. Like the Crab race:

Wheel barrel race:
The leap frog over the pumpkin race:
Dad and son shirt relay:

Hay fight:
Great first fall weekend. We loved it.

End Training Week 5

One month to go.
I want OBX to be next weekend. I am ready now. A month is too far off. I feel strong and I am worried that I'll either injury myself or lose my edge in the next month. I want to race now.

I still have 1-2 more weeks of hard training until my taper. I am hoping to get a 20 miler in next week and then a 16 the next and taper for 2 weeks. However, I have a convoluted week next week due to Carmella's early release so I don't know how realistic a 20 miler is going to be. I am going to try not sweat it if I can't get it in. Yeah, right.

This week was less of a struggle. It was probably my fastest week yet. I know I posted a midweek updateherebut in case you missed it:
Sunday: rest
Monday: 11 miles 8:45 pace
Tuesday: 9 miles 7:55 pace
Wednesday:18 miles 8:57 pace
Thursday: 4 miles 30 minutes 30 seconds/weights
Friday: 4 miles just under 35 minutes/weights
Saturday: 15 miles 8:12 pace-- This was one of those amazing runs. I felt strong the whole time. I did suffer briefly the burning/numb toes on my left foot. I paused, took my shoe off and massaged my toes and the pain abated. This is what I think my problem is called. I have dealt with this pretty much every year since I started running. But this was the first time I have felt that pain this training cycle. Only thing different is that I wore high heeled boots on Friday. Hopefully this won't prove to be an issue.

Total Miles: 61

I Am Skirt

See me run. Run Skirt Run.Normally, I am short.

I like short--I have short in red, black and pink-- but I really like skirts too.

I aspire to be one of those ladies who are Tennis. Not because of any real desire to wield a racket and smack a ball.
But for skirt.
I want cute skirt.
I already have visor but skirt, oh my, skirt how I have long coveted thee.

And happy was I to learn that Nike made a skirt. Apparently so were a lot of other women as Nike has been sold out of it in my size since I first learned of it earlier this summer. So in my search for the Adventure skirt I hit upon other running skirts.
I bought one from Skirt Sports.
It is the marathon girl. I bought the "Latte."
Why?
Well, not for a love of coffee but because I liked the silver and pink. More importantly though it was on sale--so it was cheaper than other skirts. Marathon Girl does seem really short but it actually has more material and is longer than short, so it should be fine.

I ran in skirt today at the gym. Skirt and I performed up to par. Since this all pertains to running I'll go ahead and post a mid week update:
Sunday: rest
Monday: 11 miles at 8:45 pace.
Tuesday: 9 miles at 7:55 pace. Garmin and I raced. I beat him by almost 5 minutes.
Wednesday: 18 miles at a 8:57 pace.
Thursday: 4 miles in 30 minutes and 30 seconds. Some arm weights. Felt pretty good.
I am sure tomorrow all this will catch up with me.

So I am skirt.

And lest the men readers are feeling a bit left out here is something for you:Utilikilts

And yes, Carmella took the pictures.

Pig and Chicken Show

Yesterday, as a ploy to delay bedtime, the kids decided to get a puppet show together for Daddy. Carmella hatched this mastermind plan during dinner.

Ryan has been getting home late all week so the kids haven't seen him since Sunday. He leaves for work at 6 am and doesn't come home until after 7:30. Bedtime is at 7:30-- often earlier, if I can make it happen. At any rate I am pretty firm about 7:30 because I am done by that point. I have found that no good ever comes out of them staying up later. Sure it all seems fun and like a great idea at the time. And it is fun until the next day when meltdowns and whining prevails. Just not worth it for me. So 7:30 is bedtime.


After dinner I could hear them upstairs "rehearsing." Actually, what I heard was Carmella talking and telling Beau what to do and Beau ignoring her and playing with his trucks. This is typically what happens when Carmella wants to put on a show. She has all these ideas but no one, especially Beau, likes to be told what to do. Everyone has their own ideas. The show inevitably is total bedlam. Then Carmella gets upset--the show is a failure, her artistic vision unrealized. I think this isn't necessarily a bad thing. If nothing else, at least she isn't being set up for life long disappointment in the arts. She is learning early on that artistic endeavors rarely work out how you want them to. Better for her to learn this now than say in grad school or when you are trying to make a living at it.

At 7pm I told them that Daddy would be late again and to start getting ready for bed--they would just have to save the puppet show for another night. My plan yesterday was bedtime 7:15, glass of wine 7:16. And I was well on my way to having that.

Unfortunately for me at 10 past 7 the kids heard the garage door roll open. Scurrying feet and squealing abound the puppet show was on.

Curses, foiled again!

Carmella herded us into the living room.
She first read to us a little story: This Little Piggy.
Then she and Beau climbed behind the sette and the puppet show began. Basically it was an off shoot of This Little Piggy. It was about the Pig who went to market to shop for the chicken who stayed home and said "Bawk!"
Pig went to the market and bought fruit and rope meat.Then Pig brought her purchases home to Chicken.
Chicken was not happy with the crappy food. He revolted-- as cocks will do-- and screamed "Bawk!" Chicken then pecked the heck out of Pig.
The End.

Good show.
Then for an encore Carmella read a book to us and Beau ran around the room screaming "Bawk!"

He then pecked the audience.

Garden of Earthy Delights: Part 1

Sunday afternoon Ryan and the kids and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.
We first enjoyed a lunch (read beer) at the Park Tavern. Pookie and a very hung over Wes came and met us. Apparently, Wes-- and I am loosely quoting him now-- just can't drink like he use to on account of being almost 30 and all.
Wuss.
I think the problem lies in Wes focusing more on his cycling than his drinking. I know plenty of people who are over 30 and can hang.
After our "lunch" the four of us walked across the park to the Garden. The walk there was fine but the walk back after we spent 3 hours walking around the gardens was a little taxing. So I recommend maybe parking at the Gardens rather than the Park Tavern.


The Gardens are having their annual Scarecrows in the Garden exhibit:
Beau's favorite was the pirate, of course.

Carmella's was Scare-a-rella or Crow-a-rella:

And they both liked the Dis-crow.
Other scarecrows that I don't remember what they were called:
Various other photos (see part 2 for even more)